


Craving Loneliness

by castielwonders



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kindness, Minor Character Death, One Shot, Post - Deathly Hallows, Sad, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 17:55:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielwonders/pseuds/castielwonders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the war Hermione finds herself broken and lost, only to find Draco Malfoy in a situation not too dissimilar.</p>
<p>Post battle of hogwarts with a tiny romione reference</p>
            </blockquote>





	Craving Loneliness

Silent tears streamed down her face as she sped through the destroyed ruins of what she once considered her home. The one place she felt like she fit in, that she was an _equal_ , had been destroyed.

It was to be expected of course, it wasn't called The Battle Of Hogwarts for no reason. Her friends had tried to comfort her, to make sure she was in her right mind. She wasn't of course, but they need not worry about her mental state, there were more important things to be fretting over.

Sure, the battle had been won and Voldemort had met his downfall, but at what cost? Lives had been lost, and she wasn't sure who to turn to for comfort.

She had sat with Ron of course, but after he had quietly said to her that maybe them kissing hadn't been the greatest idea she had mumbled an excuse under her breath and sped as fast as possible away from him. She _knew_ he was right of course, but essentially being rejected right after receiving word her parents had been killed didn't sit well with her, so she fled.

Ronald wasn't to know her parent’s had been murdered, in fact he probably still didn't know, she was the only one privy to the information other than Professor Mcgonagall and she was sincerely praying that the older witch knew when to keep her mouth closed.

Hermione was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't realize where she was headed until she arrived in the dungeons, the one place that had somehow remained relatively intact during the explosions of the previous week.

Casting her eyes around, they immediately fell on a small frame huddled in the corner sobbing. She squinted for a moment, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Draco Malfoy was curled up on his side crying as though it was the only thing left in the world he could do. His hands were clutching onto his hair in an extremely tight grip, not to mention the sobs wracking his body were leaving him breathless. It became obvious he hadn't heard her approach, or maybe he was just so broken he didn't care anymore.

Hermione had a choice, she could either walk straight on by the young Malfoy, acting like she had neither seen nor heard his gut wrenching sobs. Or she could walk over to him and offer some small words of comfort, he might throw them back in her face but she could at least say she tried.

But fate works in odd ways sometimes, as before Hermione could even finish planning her possible escape route should things turn awry, Draco had snapped his head round to look at her as though she had called his name.

_Jesus fucking christ_

If Hermione had made the assumption that Draco was broken then all doubt had just been removed. His grey eyes usually so full of malice and mirth were bloodshot and tear-filled, his hair was sticking up all over the place and a couple of tufts were stuck to the rings on his forefinger and thumb. With a jolt of sadness Hermione realised that the wrinkled suit he was wearing had been the same as the one he wore the day Bellatrix had tortured her in the Manor.

It appeared that the Malfoy family had been having almost as difficult a time as the golden trio.

They stood like that for god knows how long, simply staring at one another, maybe subconsciously waiting for a snide remark to drop from either of their mouths. Maybe an abusive torrent on _how it was all the mudbloods fault._

 Or maybe a long winded rant on the pureblood heritage; _if you slytherin purists didn't exist none of this would be happening_. Instead the most incredible thing seemed to happen as Hermione Granger gingerly placed herself on the step next to the one person she loathed most in the world, and took his hand.

Draco Malfoy looked up at her with an expression of pure bewilderment on his face as he asked the simple question “Why?” She looked down at their intertwined hands and gave a smile, a small one but nonetheless it was a smile.

And without looking like she had to think much at all, she merely said,

_“Because no one deserves to be alone when loneliness is the thing they crave the most.”_


End file.
